Continuing my recent focus on fun '80s songs and videos, heres another quirky '80s song from a band that would become one of the major bands of the era.
The Bangles were originally part of the Paisly Underground, part of a music scene inspired by the music and culture of the 1960s, particularly the British and psychedelic scenes. The song "Going Down To Liverpool" came off of The Bangles heavily British "mersey beat" (i.e. First British Invasion) influenced first album, All Over The Place. This was during the groups early days, in the halcyon days of the Paisly Underground, before the Bangles hit it big with the Prince-written "Manic Monday," and the follow-up "Walk Like and Egyptian."
You can clearly hear the early Beatles-esque style here. And the video features a guest appearance from Star Trek's Spock, Leonard Nimoy.
Continuing my weeks focus on distinctly '80s songs, here's one that's very '80s: the main theme to St. Elmo's Fire by John Parr.
As with the movie of the same name, the theme to St. Elmo's fire is one of those '80s things that you either love or hate. To some people, the song may be schlocky and slick, but to so many of us from that decade, it was soaring and inspirational. Count me in on the positive side of that. How can you not smile and feel excited by lyrics like:
I can see a new horizon,
underneath the blazin' sky,
I'll be where the eagle's flyin'
higher and higher
And yes, I am being serious. I'll take these positive lyrics any day to some of the negativity that came out in later years.
Speaking of mixing old with new, here's a memorable video from the heavy metal side of the '80s musical spectrum. The song is Ratt's 1984 rocker "Round And Round." The video exemplifies '80s heavy metal attitude, with its rebellion against boring and staid formality.
In a surprising touch, the video features the classic performer and comedian, Milton Berle, in a unique pairing of comedy and rock n' roll.
I've been on hiatus from the blog due to a busy job schedule, but now I'm back to my labor of love to my fave decade, the '80s.
As a re-launch of the blog, I'm starting a week devoted to cool '80s music. First up, a great song from 1987, a collaboration between '80s New Wave synthpop group the Pet Shop Boys, and classy '60s diva Dusty Springfield called "What Have I Dont To Deserve This."
This song has all the traits that made '80s music so wonderful. To begin with, the ability to seamlessly blend together the vibrant new styles of the '80s, with the classic pop of a previous great era. '80s were never ones to tear down the greatness of venerable older acts just to make way for the new, but instead seemed to find a way to bring both old and new together to created a wonderful new musical product.
There's also that terrific '80s melodic catchy-ness, brimming with '80s exuberance. And the colorful and dapper, yet fun, '80s style, as shown by the video.
David Bowie burst forth in 1983 with a new, more mainstream image. Whereas a great deal of his '70s work conveyed an alienated and searching demeanor, his '80s material had a more positive, yet still individualistic and arty, vibe.
In 1983, Bowie rode the wave of New Wave/New Romantic mus ic which then dominated MTV, and which served as one of the main contributors to the new media of music video. His music, as intelligent and quirky as ever, had a new energy. For example, here is his video for "China Girl" from his 1983 Let's Dance album.
Bowie joined the great Second British Invasion which was at that time crashing onto American airwaves. And his fellow British musicians of that period were often Bowies own admirers, who has grown up on, and were inspired by Bowie in his earlier '70s incarnations. Bowie was the topic of the cover story of the July 18, 1983 issue of Time magazine ("David Bowie Rockets Onward."), which had the following observations:
"At 36, the oldest fresh force in rock, this new Bowie seems to share few
qualities with the old Ziggy, the polymorphous camp extravaganza, the most gilded
lily of rock's gaudiest age. What binds these identities together is a gift that is
cerebral and carnal, frequently danceable and always entertaining. His former
crony Lou Reed has sung about it. Deep down inside, Bowie has
a rock-'n'-roll heart. . .
. . . Musically however, Bowie always seems to know what time it is; no need
for verification. His new material is unabashedly commercial, melodically
aliterative and lyrically smart at the same time. Bowie made some
of the most adventurous rock of the past decade. When it did not work,
it sounded trendy and tuned out. But when it did hit, which was most of the time, it
laid down rules and set new marks for others to follow. Bowie kept the cutting edge
keen. There are few punks or New Wavers or art rockers or New Dancers
dancing to New Music who do not owe him an abiding debt. Every one from
Gary Numan to Talking Heads and Culture Club ought to make a
deep bow in his direction.
Bowie, ever quirky and multifaceted, dabbled in various art forms... music, video, film, theatre. Early in the decade, he performed as the title character in a production of The Elephant Man. And above, his 1984 hit song "Blue Jean," featured on his 1984 album Tonight, also was featured in a short film called Jazzin For Blue Jean. The video for the song features a clip from the film.
In 1985 Bowie performed a duet with Mick Jagger, of the '60s sould classic "Dancing in the Streets."
And in 1986, Bowie perfomed in the fantasy film Labyrinth, produced by Star Wars' own George Lucas, and featuring creatures created by The Muppets' inventor Jim Henson.
At the conclusion of the decade, Bowie found himself at his most mainstream, a situation which would lead to the criticism by many that he was not as creative as he had been in the seminal years of the 1970s. Nevertheless, the flip side of that is that Bowie was probably never as influential or as respected as he was in the 1980s, as the wave of new musicians cited him as a major influence, and the increasingly theatrical and multi-media nature of '80s music followed in his footsteps.
David Bowie, the seminal musician who played such a role in '70s and '80s music, has emerged from years of inactivity with an interesting new song and video. On January 8, 2013, Bowie's 66th birthday, he released "Where Are We Now" an unusual and penetrating contemplation of things past and present.
Its a moody and brooding song, seemingly filled with nostalgia. The imagery and lyrics evoke Bowie's time in Berlin during the late '70s, a time when he produced, together with producer Brian Eno, a trilogy or searching and innovative albums. "A man lost in time. . . walking the dead," he sings.
Frankly, moodiness included, I cant help but feel that the song captures some of my own feelings ofwistfullness and thoughtfullness I sometimes find myself feeling recently.
This served a good time for me to finally complete a post on Bowie I had been long planning... which Im actually going to divide into two posts.
The 1980s could not have been what they were without Bowie, as his influence spread heavily among the New Wave/New Romantic groups which dominated the MTV video scene, and the Second British Invasion of the early '80s.
Bowie has been known as a chameleon of sorts, working his way through various artistic personas. His big breakthrough came with the his character "Ziggy Stardust," an androgynous space traveler turned rock star which who was also the title character of the concept album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972).
Over the course of the '70s, Bowie went through various stages, from the Ziggy-dominated glam era of the early '70s, to a more cool and icy era of the Thin White Duke, to the late '70s Berlin era of cutting edge music. His characters all had in common a sense of alienation, separateness, and individualism. At one point, he starred as the title character of the Nicholas Roeg film, The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), about an space alien disaffected and separate from the world around him.
Bowie's visually stunning image, as shown in the above '70s video for "Life On Mars?" influenced many an artsy rock kid, many of whomdominate the MTV era with colorful and creative videos, and quirky music. Boy George, Annie Lennox, Duran Duran, all drew inspiration from Bowie.
Bowie himself became a major part of the Second British Invasion of 1983, with that year's Lets Dance album, and a hopeful, upbeat and vibrant new image. . . one which was perfectly in tune with the hopefulness and energy of the '80s. That positive spirit is shown in the catchy song and video, "Modern Love" from the Lets Dance album.
